Munster will up the tempo

MUNSTER coach Alan Gaffney has vowed that his side will show a dramatic improvement in form for their second Heineken Cup outing against Neath-Swansea Ospreys at the Gnoll on Sunday.

Gaffney’s side have been roundly criticised for their performance against Harlequins at Thomond Park on the opening weekend as they struggled to a 15-9 victory.

The Munster boss accepts the validity of some of that criticism but adds that expectation was possibly too high amongst the home support.

“I tried to say that beforehand, but people seemed to think I was making up excuses before the event. Harlequins are not the mugs people made them out to be and I reckon they’ll be very confident taking on Castres at the Stoop this weekend. I think they’re capable of beating them.”

But he was clearly annoyed with many aspects from the video studies during the week.

“We’ve got to play a lot better than we did last weekend and lift the level of performance. We know the areas where it went wrong and all the boys know too.

“We should have had that game well and truly put to bed at half-time and we didn’t.

“Had we done what we should have done, then everyone would have been happy with the performance, so we know we’ve got to improve.”

Gaffney is again talking up the opposition, warning of a Welsh backlash following the Ospreys’ thrashing at the hands of Pool 4 rivals Castres in France. Another concern is the clean bill of health within the Munster squad - which has caused their Australian boss a headache or two.

“Having a number of players back from injury presents its own problems,” he says.

“Obviously we have a lot of players in form and that makes it more difficult. Just look at the back row - how we made it up was a concern last week and it’s a concern this week too. I mean you’ve got five guys there who are all international standard.

“I know Denis Leamy has not played internationally yet, but he was selected for the international panel this week, so we have quite a wealth of talent there and deciding who is going to play against the Ospreys is a difficult one.

“We’ve got to consider horses for courses and I have sat down with the five of them and explained in a nice way that it’s nothing against any of them if they miss out on selection.

“We will look at the conditions we expect to play in, we will look at the side we are playing against and pick the side accordingly.”

Gaffney did not see the Ospreys’ game against Castres, but has learned that the French dominated up front from the outset.

“I suppose the 38-17 scoreline did raise an eyebrow, particularly with the Ospreys playing as well as they have, being unbeaten in the Celtic League and then getting turned over by 20 points or so.

“I know people don’t rate the Celtic League as highly as the Heineken Cup, but the Ospreys have been flying high in it and they’ve beaten some strong sides - they’ve beaten Llanelli, they’ve beaten Leinster and they beat us 34-17 at St Helens in September.”

The pack contains two of the Welsh front row in the Jones brothers; they’ve got Brent Cockbain; and an unheralded back row which includes Ryan Jones at No 8 and young Richie Pugh at seven.

In the backs, they have Jason Spice and Gavin Henson as half-backs and are endowed with plenty of options thereafter, as illustrated by the attacking ability they’ve shown in the Celtic League.

Gaffney said: “We will not be underestimating them at all. It is going to be a very tough game for us.”

The weather conditions too could play their part in the outcome, a factor that Gaffney has been busily preaching.

But he is confident his players can react accordingly.

“We know we can play the game tight or we can play it wide but we have to be able to opt for either, depending on the circumstances. We have the skill level to do it, but we’ve got to have the faith.”

The availability of Shaun Payne and Donncha O’Callaghan offers additional options but the main problem is the selection in the back row.

“That’s a headache, but we will pick the back row depending on the conditions and depending on which way we think the Ospreys will go. It will be difficult because whichever way we go, we will be leaving out two world class flankers.

“Everyone tells me that’s a nice position to be in, but I can assure you it is not.”